The proliferation of online chat rooms throughout the internet, like the facebook, has seen an increasing rate of security risks among users of these chat sites. This article examines the potential safety risks with them, like predatory behaviour by strangers or sex offenders using online chat rooms to groom or harm children or vulnerable young women. We will attempt to explain some measures on how to improve your online security and how to keep safe when using online chat rooms during your involvement with social activities.

After doing an in depth analysis with Australian chat sites, I have found that many of these sites appear to be free to use. There are inherent risks to safety for young people, even young adults who use these online chat rooms.

An independent press release issued by the Victorian Police Department on 10th September of 2007 mentioned that with online chat rooms on the increase, so too are predators and sex offenders exploiting these channels of communication to potentially harm others. The report goes on to recommend that people be diligent with their online security. Here are some points of concern I discovered involving security risks, after working through the documents:

1. Online chat rooms, IM chat and text chat services offer a convenient shelter to predators or dubious people wanting to hide their true identity for the 

sake of anonymity online because there is no requirement for a user to have to upload a profile picture with their face visible with chat rooms.

2. Users of chat sites can easily mask their computer’s IP address behind a proxy server, thereby concealing their true location, making the task of locating an offender difficult

3. People are now 70% more likely to use chat rooms for predatory behaviour, cyber bullying and various other social dysfunctional purposes, causing others much pain and hurt.

So what can you do to increase your security? – Online Video Chat Sites are the answer.

Using online video chat rooms gives users much more control and safety, whilst still being able to enjoy the comforts of social internet endeavours. Video chat sites like Skype give you, the user, more safety because you can see the other user. They can no longer hide behind their computer. The advantages of using video with your online chat rooms are many: